El jardín del Edén (1994)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

María Novaro

Writers:

Beatriz Novaro (writer)
María Novaro (writer)

Release Date:

1 March 1995 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Looking for a better destiny for their lives, a group of people arrives to Tijuana, in the Mexico-USA borderline...

Plot Keywords:

Chicano | Border | Peasant | Identity | Illegal Immigration

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Renée Coleman	...	Jane
Bruno Bichir	...	Felipe
Gabriela Roel	...	Serena
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jerónimo Berruecos	...	Sergio
Denisse Bravo	...	Lupita
Alan Ciangherotti	...	Julián
Ángeles Cruz	...	Margarita Luna
Joseph Culp	...	Frank
Dan Holsenback	...	Border Patrol Agent
Ana Ofelia Murguía	...	Juana
Yano Rubinstein	...	La Migre
Rosario Sagrav	...	Elizabeth
Lucero Sánchez	...	Paloma

Also Known As:

The Garden of Eden

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

Canada | France | Mexico

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Fondo de Fomento a la Calidad Cinematográfica

An interesting look at the U.S./ Mexican border

This is not a commercial Hollywood style film, and if you're looking for a lot of action, you won't get it here. El Jardín del Edén is a thoughtful, intriguing character study and gives us a glimpse of what life is like for different kinds of people who end up at the U.S./Mexican border in the mid-1990s. Migration is not a one way street, and just as there are Mexicans who want to go to "the other side," there are people from the U.S. who are drawn to Mexico and are searching for something there they can't find at home. Not all Mexicans living in Tijuana want to cross to the U.S. Not all Mexicans who cross want to stay in the U.S. This film breaks down a lot of stereotypes about what the border is, and it makes it clear that we can't put people into neat little categories. People are motivated to do things for a lot of different reasons, and sometimes cultural and personal differences are so subtle that people offend or hurt each other without even realizing it. I would recommend this film to anyone who has seen too many violent, action packed films about corruption, greed and crime along the border, because it shows that things are not always so dramatic and wild as we imagine. Here, the border has a definite and unique character of its own, but it's no better and no worse than any other place. Sometimes people find what they're looking for, sometimes not, but there is a certain degree of hope in the film that keeps the characters moving forward and imagining a better kind of life for themselves and others.